We have a new one. Rationalize. As in “we need to rationalize our investment in this technology.” They mean understand with a dash of justify and perhaps a bit of leverage. Figure out how it fits. Make rational. I keep hearing “make excuses for.”
dec·i·mate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (ds-mt)
tr.v. dec·i·mat·ed, dec·i·mat·ing, dec·i·mates
- To destroy or kill a large part of (a group).
- Usage Problem.
To inflict great destruction or damage on: The fawns decimated my rose bushes.
To reduce markedly in amount: a profligate heir who decimated his trust fund. - To select by lot and kill one in every ten of.
http://dictionary.reference.com1/search?q=decimated
“Dick” does not mean “cock,” it means “a detective.” And “cock” does not mean “dick,” it means “a rooster.”
LiveOnAPlane wrote:
The Roman army dealt with unruly soldiers by decimating the ranks – killing one-in-ten soldiers in a given company or whatever they called it.
I know you’re not trying to remove cocksucker and dicklicker from my vocabulary of favorite cusses.
But then, I suppose restricting their use adds some other, more interesting aspects to the imagery.
Sharp sticks are good, true; but ice sickles are better.
But how many other word pairs are both homonyms and (nearly) antonyms?
Fish, you got me. Spell check is my friend … spell check is my friend… spell check is my friend …
cool user name, BTW 
My 15 year old daughter corrected her English teacher on “intents and purposes” (teacher was saying “intensive purposes”).
When my son was in high school he won a bet from his history teacher that Hitler’s first name was “Adolf” not “Adolph”. Not only was the teacher wrong, but she welshed on the bet.`
Here’s my favourite.
Some people use the phrase ‘to grow like Topsy’ to mean growing very quickly or to a greater than usual size. What this phrase actually means is ‘to have grown seemingly from nowhere, without explanation or known source’. For example, you might be discussing a rumour and if you don’t know how it got started, you might say, ‘I don’t know, it seemed to just grow, like Topsy’.
It comes from the Brer Rabbit stories, where Topsy is asked where she came from and she says that she doesn’t know, “I guess I just growed”.
I corrected my English Master in front of a class. he asked if I was inferring that he was an idiot. I replied, “Only you can infer that you are an idiot. I am implying that you are an idiot.” I received a variety of punishments.
Actually, it’s from Uncle Tom’s Cabin:
You can read the relevant chapter here.
Thank you! I sit corrected.
Okay, I’m not usually in favor of correcting folks’ grammar. But that’s awesome!
Daniel
Although technically, don’t ask, you were wrong. You could certainly infer that your teacher was an idiot. It happens to me all the time: I read someone’s* post on the Internet, infer that they’re an idiot, and move on.
Daniel
- (Not yours, in case that reads like an oblique insult; I infer from yours that you’re awesome)
I would recommend that the OP give all of his students a link to Common Errors in Englsh. It is an invaluable reference (and that doesn’t mean worthless).
Sheets are not sails, they are the lines attached to the sails to control the angle. If a sheet is free (in the wind) that corner of the sail is uncontrolled. If three sheets are in the wind, the entire sail is out of control and the ship risks lurching like a drunken sailor.
Almost everyone I’ve ever heard use the phrase says “He was chomping at the bit.”
He was not, of course. He was champing at it.
ETA: Sorry, should have figured that someone would have beat me to it in this old thread.
And police get cranky if you drive without due care and attention, not with undue care and attention (unless maybe they get cranky because they had one less opportunity to write a ticket).
Penultimate does not mean the best, the top, the super-ultimate.
It means “second to last.” In Latin, the last syllable of a word is called the ultima. The second to last syllable is called the penultima.
Data vs Datum: yes, technically “data” is plural, but in modern usage it’s both singular and plural, like geese or sheep, but takes the grammar of non-count nouns, so the data is, like the shampoo, in the bathroom. If needed to be counted, it also takes helping words like any non-count nouns, e.g. one sheet of data. Datum is literally on death’s door.
My pet peeves:
a/an: it’s not the consonant/vowel that matter, it’s the sound:
an herb
a herbivore
a universal accord
an unusual request
Double negatives are not a crime against humanity:
I don’t feel so bad.
It’s not that I don’t like him.
You’ve never not been an asshole.
You can end a sentence with a preposition:
I’ll do it when the game is over.
Your mother stopped by.
Why is the light on?
Everybody should know the names of the symbols above the number keys.